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Welcome back, Brentford fans. With the World Cup approaching its time to start slowly dipping the toes back into the murky water of these pages. Just ad-hoc, for now. But looking around the world of football yesterday it felt like things were starting to happen once more. I know, I know. It was only five minutes ago that the Bees secured a fourth top ten finish, Wolves were winning the title, Fulham took their clappers into the Premier League and Birmingham City dodged relegation by the skin of their teeth. Yet, and it may just be me, this feels like an eternity already. The interminable wait to ‘go again’ with nothing but anticipation for Russia 2018 and completing the Panini sticker book / bankrupting myself (as symbiotic as relationships come, that one) to fill the Championship void. That, and of course the now annual exercise, of completing the season review.

Yes – it’s Kindle e-book time and this one’s a potential download double-header. I’ve got to be honest, I wasn’t going to bother this season. Indeed, this may well be the last. Yet equally, last year’s effort raised a nice sum for the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust and do we’ve decided to do the same again. Should anybody want to download a copy of either publication from the Amazon store (whilst one Bees fan will win a very rare shirt….) then once again all proceeds received will be going to the Trust.

Starting things off is Ten Times Better. Brentford FC Season review: 2017/18. Inspired by ‘that’ interview it contains the least bad of these columns in one, handy volume as it looks at our own campaign as well as wider divisional life and the promotion / relegation races. In addition there’s a whole host of new material. New that is, for my pages. Specifically, all the programme articles submitted (both home and away where, if nothing else, you can get the original versions of both Birmingham City and Millwall). You can get that one here for your kindle / app.

In addition, There Is No Plan B. Brentford FC Season reviews: 2013/14 – 2017/18 takes us all the way back to the start of this latest leg in the journey. That penalty. League One. Harlee Dean was a hero. Jota was something we thought happened to the temperature for one week in July. Alan Judge had joined on loan whilst the Marinus Experiment was something nobody had contemplated. Bringing things bang up to date by the inclusion of this year’s volume alongside the four previously published campaign round ups, it has five seasons in one weighty tome.As weighty as a download can be, that is.

Relive the memories. See how often the same material gets regurgitated. Remind yourself about the likes of Betinho, Martin Fillo, Javi Venta and Marcos Tebar. Certainly, if there’s no Marcos Tea Bar at Lionel Road it will be an opportunity missed.

Most of all, this is all for charity. All proceeds from any sales will go to the Sports Trust. For less than the cost of a half / pint respectively, they may help while away some time on the commute. By the pool on holiday. In the bathroom. Who knows? It will certainly do some good for the Trust, whose work has been well documented at Griffin Park but you can read all about it on their site.

And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve been given something very special. A 2017/18 third team shirt with Lewis Macleod’s squad number on the reverse in the EFL typeface. Anyone with half an interest in Bees kits will know that these were never made available in the club shop. Anyone who has read any of this before will know what a kit nerd yours truly is so when I say this is rare, take that in good faith!

To be in with a chance of owning it, download a copy of either before the end of June and you’ll go into a draw to win this. Just DM/tweet me (@NickBruzon) a copy of your purchase confirmation mail and I’ll add your name to the list before selecting a random Bees fan to win this on July 1st.

Download either volume, help the BFC CST and maybe win this

Thanks for your time. Now back to the football. Sunday was dominated by two tweets. At least, in Brentford circles. The selection of Denmark’s final 23 man squad for the upcoming World Cup and, of course, the quite wonderful news about Alan Judge, who bagged a 90th minute winner for Republic of Ireland.

First up, Denmark. The Danes have named their final World Cup squad and it’s a case of congratulations to Henrik Dalsgaard on his selection. This is wonderful news for the player and, perhaps also, another string in the bow of our recruitment team as Brentford will have representation in Russia. The flipside to this is heartbreak for Andreas Bjelland. Despite already appearing in the Panini sticker book for the tournament, he has missed out on the plane to Moscow. One has to feel for our man although I’ve no doubt he’ll be wishing his club mate and compatriots nothing but the best.

Yet there was one story that kept popping up time and again on my social media timeline. Just to be clear, we’re not talking about Sergi Canos and his missing luggage. Instead, the news about Alan Judge was everywhere. And rightly so!!

We all know what happened to Alan two years ago. We all know the long road to recovery which he has travelled down since that point. We all remember how wonderful it was to see him make a very welcome return for The Bees in that FA Cup match against Notts County back in January. So there aren’t really anymore words needed to sum up what was quite the fairy tale ending against the USA at the weekend…..